MANILA – Filipinas are among the world’s top 500 entrepreneurs, according to a new list that challenges gender stereotypes and shines the spotlight on success stories in emerging markets.

The Foundation 500, compiled by Sweden’s H&M Foundation and the humanitarian agency CARE, aims to empower women in developing countries to break from poverty, according to a statement announcing the list on Thursday.

“The entrepreneur is the hero of our time, and it is estimated that over the coming years over 1 billion women will enter the workforce – a majority through entrepreneurship,” said Diana Amini, Global Manager at H&M Foundation.

Unlike male CEOs, these struggling female entrepreneurs rarely make it on magazine covers, she said.

“Born with zero privilege, the women portrayed in the Foundation 500 list have made their own fortunes in the harshest of startup-environments. Yet, their stories often go untold,” said supermodel and H&M Foundation Ambassador Alek Wek.

“I wish I had seen women like these on the cover of business magazines when I grew up in South Sudan,” Wek said.